The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die
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Welcome to my 200th book review! To celebrate, I’m sure you’ll honor me by reading all 200 reviews and making me feel like this is all worth my time. If you have things to do and places to be, you can at least celebrate a little by reviewing my top picks. Good lawd, what’s a girl gotta do to recommend good books????
Okay anyway, here’s a book that’s pretty good: The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne. This is one of Dax Shepard’s favorite books, which is a little eye-rolly for me to admit, but his description of the book piqued my interest. Payne studies the effects of inequality; he argues that, while being poor is obviously a problem, feeling poor is, perhaps, an even bigger problem. We compare ourselves to others constantly, and where you feel relative to other people matters. A lot. Like on a cellular level. It affects our physical health, the way we vote, how we rate our happiness, how we respond to stress, how our immune systems function, how we view religion, how we perceive race, etc. Inequality seeps into our worldview and skews it.
The book’s title refers to an income ladder. Income distribution in America is ridiculously unequal. The rich are getting way way richer and, interestingly, the poor and middle class are remaining right where they are. They’re not getting poorer, but they feel like they are because the gap between them and the rich is widening. The big ‘ol rich train is taking off and the majority of Americans are left standing at the station feeling worse off even though their incomes are the same. The lower and middle-class all have FOMO.
This book covers soooooo many studies. Each chapter references study after study after study. It’s crucial that Payne does such a good job of explaining the methods of the studies, how we can interpret the results, and how the results fit into the larger context of life. I also appreciate his nonpartisanship. He explains that both conservatives and liberals oversimplify the nature of inequality. The conservative emphasis on individual rights and responsibilities doesn’t take into account the system that breeds inequality. The liberal emphasis on systems doesn’t take into account the fact that inequality affects the behaviors of individuals. Payne wants us to fully grasp the nuance of the issues because if inequality is a public health problem, it should be attacked from multiple angles.
My biggest complaint/question is the same one I’ve expressed with regards to Malcolm Gladwell: are you cherry-picking research that supports the narrative that you want to push? Here, it’s less pronounced, because Payne includes so many studies, so it feels less like pick-your-own-adventure. Still, I wish he had given a nod to more counterarguments. I get that a counterargument might disrupt the pace of the cohesive portrait that Payne wants to paint, but we’re not that naive. I come away from it thinking ~this is REALLY compelling...what’s being overstated?~ Also, he doesn’t flesh out as many solutions as I’d prefer. He does an excellent job of presenting a complex problem, but shrugs his shoulders a bit at the end, offering a few (albeit helpful) ideas on how members of the middle-class can shift their perception and suffer less from the negative effects of social comparison. Not exactly comprehensive reform, but perhaps I’m expecting too much. Overall, The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die receives 4 out of 5 flames.
I’ll leave you with this: some lyrics from Love Yourz by J. Cole. I had just finished reading a chapter when I heard this song for the first time on my Spotify. I thought *Hmmm, did J. Cole write this book?*
“Always gon' be a whip that's better than the the one you got
Always gon' be some clothes that's fresher than the one's you rock
Always gon' be a bitch that's badder out there on the tours
But you ain't never gon' be happy till you love yours
No such thing as a life that's better than yours
Love Yourz”
And I’m the baddest bitch there is because I just posted my 200th review :)
